Poricidal anther
An anther that releases pollen only through a small pore — requiring a bee that can vibrate it out.
Definition
Tomatoes, aubergines, blueberries, cranberries and heathers all hold pollen in tubes with a pore at the tip. Getting it out requires buzz pollination: gripping the flower and vibrating the flight muscles at high frequency. Bumblebees and many solitary bees can do this; honey bees cannot.
Where the word gets used loosely
This is why glasshouse tomatoes were hand-pollinated with vibrating wands before commercial bumblebee rearing, and why blueberry growers increasingly buy bumblebee colonies alongside contracted honey bee hives. A honey bee in a blueberry flower is collecting nectar and shaking loose comparatively little pollen.
See also
Other botany terms
Sources
Sources
- Assessment Report on Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production — Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) (2016) · Systematic review Link
- Bumblebees: Behaviour, Ecology, and Conservation — Oxford University Press (2010) · Monograph
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